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Vent: My local hardware store in Boise stopped stocking the good rain barrels
Last week I went to get a replacement barrel for my garden setup, and the manager said they phased them out last month. They only have these cheap 50-gallon plastic ones now that crack in the cold. Three years ago, you could get a solid recycled food-grade barrel there for under $80. Has anyone found a reliable source for the sturdy ones lately?
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victor6361mo ago
Those cheap barrels are probably fine for most people. The store likely switched because the old ones were too expensive and hard to get. A lot of folks just need basic storage and don't have the same problems with cracking. Maybe the manager had constant complaints about the price of the old barrels. It sounds like they're just trying to stock what sells.
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gonzalez.phoenix21d ago
Wait, did they seriously ditch the food-grade ones? My buddy out in Nampa had the exact same problem last fall. He bought one of those cheap 50-gallon plastic barrels from the Boise store, filled it up before the first freeze, and by January it had a crack running down the side like someone took a knife to it. He spent a weekend trying to patch it with epoxy and tape, but it just leaked everywhere and ruined his whole drip irrigation setup. Now he's convinced the manager just wanted to push whatever was cheapest from the supply truck, not actually help gardeners. Took him three trips to a surplus place in Meridian to finally find a recycled pickle barrel that didn't split in the cold.
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